Last week the Marco Island Fire Department coordinated a search and rescue effort after a plane crashed off the coast of Goodland, and fortunately all of the passengers and pilots of the aircraft survived with relatively minor injuries.

Our thanks go out to the local fishermen arriving at the scene and to the agencies that worked together to make this positive outcome possible, including the Marco Island Fire Rescue and Police Departments, Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Collier County Emergency Management Services and Medical Services, East Naples Fire Department, Isle of Capri Fire Department, and the United States Coast Guard.

The rescue took just one short hour from the time the emergency call was dispatched, and this response is another excellent example of outstanding public service – the agencies involved hired the right people, and invested in the training and equipment that makes this response and service possible.

This wasn’t the first time that as a community we have been grateful for normal and emergency service – Marco Island responded well to the emergency created by Hurricane Wilma, and during the hurricane nearly all city employees were asked to remain on the island to assure that assistance would be promptly available to our citizens. Police, Fire, Utilities, and Public Works employees were rotated throughout the day and night. Private contractors were lined up for immediate response following the hurricane and many moved their equipment to the island. The Marco Island Utilities were told to keep all systems operating until natural events caused their shutdown.

From the public infrastructure perspective, there was relatively little damage other than cleanup. And for many or most of the employees, this was literally just business as usual – keeping the streets open and providing the services that bring us back to normalcy.

Although as taxpayers we often struggle with defining the services that we receive for our tax dollars, local government services are truly “where the rubber meets the road” with the services that we expect, including police, fire, public works, recreation, planning, education, and so much more.

Cities, counties and school districts in this state are working to keep services at the levels that we all expect and need during a time of both economic hardship and restructuring of the property tax system, and although there has been much coverage of the budget shortfalls across our state, this latest rescue event is a another reminder that good employees are important each day and critical during emergencies.

The importance of the employee resources are often overlooked until they are needed, but the investment in hiring the right people and providing the necessary training and equipment is not lost on the hundreds of people that are rescued, saved, revived or otherwise served by these professionals.

On behalf of these dedicated employees and the City Council have a safe and Happy Independence Day.

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